Conservative leader Michael Howard was today visiting a town hit by race rioting to make the case for a tightly-controlled asylum system.

Mr Howard was using his trip to Burnley, Lancashire, to argue that Prime Minister Tony Blair must introduce measures to deal with a potential influx of immigrants when the European Union welcomes ten new members in May.

In his speech today, Mr Howard was to say: "Almost every other country in the EU has quite rightly taken the precaution of putting in place transitional arrangements to deal with immigration from the accession countries. It is still not too late for the British Government to put in place transitional arrangements as well. If we were in government, we would do so."

The visit was dismissed as a "cheap gimmick" by Burnley's Labour MP Peter Pike, who said: "Mr Howard is using Burnley on the back of political opportunism and that is the extent of his knowledge and respect for our town."

* Six out of 10 asylum seekers have been forced to sleep rough because they have been denied support by tough new Home Office rules, a report compiled by a consortium of six charities claimed today. The claim was rebutted by the Government.